Cohen Siegel Investors will go before the District's Zoning Commission Monday Jan. 12 for a second hearing for approval to build a 10-story apartment building at 1333 M Street SE. The project is located east of the Navy Yard, south of Potomac Ave metro, and west of the Congressional Cemetery. Eric Siegel of the Cohen Companies and Cohen Siegel Investors says the developer will answer questions raised at the first hearing in December about height, density and the exterior architectural design.
The commission is expected to render a decision within 30 to 60 days after the hearing. Siegel indicated that he would move quickly after the decision.
The apartment building is the first phase of a four-phase planned unit development on the Anacostia waterfront. The total project consists of three residential buildings with 673 units and over 10,000 square feet of retail on a three-acre lot bounded by M Street, Virginia Avenue and Water Street SE.
Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6B, which is supporting the project, has signed a memo of understanding with the Rockville-based Cohen Siegel Investors, which specifies a timeline for construction and enumerates the amenities the developer will provide. Cohen Siegel will construct a public dog park, a public plaza on the waterfront and make road improvements, among other items.
ANC 6B also asked the developer to increase the number of affordable units in the building beyond the District's inclusionary zoning requirement, which specifies that developers of buildings containing at least 10 units set aside between 8 and 10 percent of units as affordable. (The city's inclusionary zoning program has come under fire of late; most recently, a coalition of housing advocates
asked the Zoning Commission to overhaul the program.) Siegel says the 10-story building “addresses the ANC’s concern for more affordable housing” in the neighborhood.
The building will have 218 units, of which 19 are designated affordable units. Siegel says 15 studios and one-bedroom units will be reserved for tenants making 80 percent of the area median income, which is $107,000 for a family of four. Four two-bedroom units will be set aside for tenants at 60 percent of the area median income.
The building will have “a little” retail, says Siegel, all of which will be “service-oriented.” There will also be, in total across all phases of the development, 221 parking spaces.
Cohen Siegel’s last two projects were the Velocity Condominiums in Capitol Riverfront and the Loree Grand in NoMa.